Sainsbury's most expensive of big four supermarkets - new survey

Wednesday 30 July 2014 - Editorial Assistant

Tesco is the cheapest and Sainsbury’s is the most expensive of the big four supermarkets for essential products, a survey by this publication has found. A weekly shop of 40 products, which included commonly bought items such as Kellogs cornflakes, Heinz baked beans, Colgate toothpaste, a four pack of Carlsberg beer, beef mince and a six pack of free range eggs came to £90.52 at Tesco and was £104.49 at Sainsbury’s.

Asda was the second cheapest at £91.17 while the bill came to £96.29 at Morrisons.

The survey confirmed that product prices were broadly similar across the big four with Tesco offering good value for 1kg of baby potatoes (£0.67), Cathedral cheese 350g (£2.50) and a six pack of free range eggs (£1.) Asda was cheapest for red peppers, Tropicana orange juice, Lavazza ground coffee and Fairy washing up liquid.

Upmarket Waitrose charged shoppers £116.22 for the 40 products.

Our survey does not take into consideration the discounters Lidl and Aldi as they do not stock a significant proportion of the products we tracked.

In order to differentiate itself from rivals, Sainsbury’s, which has not joined the supermarket price war, talks up the fair price it pays to British suppliers and its ethical values. As a point of difference, its 1kg of frozen chicken breast contains 100 per cent of chicken compared to the 82 per cent in Tesco’s offer.

Morrisons charged the most for 1 kg of lamb leg (£7), more than Asda (£6.50) and Sainsbury’s (£5.99.) The Bradford-based grocer has promoted its fresh food concept Market Street in its superstores in recent years, but consumers could see less of the butcher in-store as it drives into the convenience market. Morrisons was the cheapest for Andrex toilet paper (£4.45), John West Tuna chunks (£3.49) and 1 kg of carrots (£0.69).

For products such as oranges, cucumber, sweetcorn and milk we compared the retailers own-brand offerings. All the prices were taken from the retailer’s official website.